The Snork
by Portuguese Irish
Summary: "(...) for what he had been told, the mutants didn't have feelings or emotions, sensations and will, and were merely moved by bloodthirst and hunger. However, the very snork hidden under his desk appeared to have some sensibilty left. Especially, curiosity."
1. Meeting

**Author's note:** English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for gramatical mistakes. Also, this is being written by a very frustrated S.T.A.L.K.E.R. player who haven't seen a snork, yet... =_=

Reviews are always welcome. :)

* * *

After a troubled and long journy, Vitaly finally reached the base. He got out the armoured combat vehicle with a soldier's help and got his eyes uncovered. The sight was not amusing; a huge military base in some remote place of the Zone, behind high walls and barbed wire, with many watch-towers. Around him, there were only soldiers passing by and some barracks, probably with ammuinitions, guns and vehicles.

A general came over him and shook hands with him:

'Doctor, welcome to Base 666.', the general saluted. Vitaly offered a weak smile and allowed the general to nearly drag him to a cabine. He opened the door and revealed stairs going down, 'Did you think you would work in some old barracks?'

'Actually, yes...', Vitaly confessed, seeing how wrong he was; seemed the true base was underground, equiped with enfermaries, labs, dormitories, cantines and a kitchen. A huge, modern, complex building that had been built under the soil.

He followed the general, trying to memorize where every room was. There were a few soldiers coming and going:

'New in the Zone?', the general suddenly asked. Vitaly nodded nervously:

'I've just graduated...'

'Good, we need fresh scientists... Here, this your lab.', the general opened a door and revealed a huge, white room, with everything a young scientist could ever wish. Vitaly looked around, fascinated, and his fears calmed down for a while; maybe working in the Zone wouldn't be that bad... actually...:

'What is my purpose here...?', Vitaly asked. He had read that in the recruitment letter, but he had already forgotten it. The general smilled; he was a middle-aged man, strong, bald, with a deep scar crossing his face and a pair of clever brown eyes:

'Don't you remember that?'

'I'm afraid not, sir...'

'So, we'll keep it a surprise until tomorrow morning', his smile vanished 'At 6 am in this very lab.'

Vitaly just nodded and the general walked away. The young doctor stood alone for a while, too shy to move. He then sighed and looked for his bedroom.

It was an easy task, since it had 'Fedor, Vitaly' marked on the door. The young man got in; it made him think about a hotel room, a very luxuous hotel room, with a big bed, a closet, a mini-bar and a private bathroom. There were only lacking windows, but he surely didn't want to see the lovely worms that live in the dirt...

Vitaly put his backbag on the floor and gave a few shy steps around the the room. He was a very tall guy, around 1.98m, with dark blonde hair and brown eyes. For him to be there, in that underground world, seemed is best goal so far, for he had been raised in a Gods' forsakened village, where the brightest perspective of future was to be a farmer.

Someone knocked at the door and a soldier got in:

'Your clothes, Doctor.', he said as he handed Vitaly a bag. He then left. The young doctor frowned and wondered if he had brought useless clothes then. He opened the bag and started to place the itens over the bed; a black tank-top, some pairs of camouflage trousers, a warrant disk, a white smock and a pair of heavy combat boots.

He sighed, unpleased, but surely he would have to get used to that. He picked up a notebook from his backbag, laid on the bed and wrote the first page of his diary.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Vitaly woke up by hearing screams and ferocious growls. Were they being attacked? But, as sudden as it had started, everything went silent. Vitaly rested his head on the pillow again, but he was too nervous to sleep.

At 5 am he stood up, got dressed and looked for a cantine. If it was already working, of course... He was lucky and found one, not too distant from his lab. There were a bunch of soldiers eating and they payed him little attention.

Vitaly then went to his lab. He opened the door and realised the general, another official and a lab assistent were already there. Nervously, he checked his watch:

'No, you're very punctual!', the general said with a smile 'I like that. Well, we have no time to waste, this is Ivan, he'll help you with wathever you need.', Vitaly shook hands with the lab assistent, an old man with an arrogant face.

Suddenly, a growl nearly made Vitaly jump out of his skin. The young scientist looked around, confused, and he felt even more confused when everyone bursted into laughter:

'Come, young lad!', the officer invited, wrapping an arm around Vitaly's shoulders and leading him to a stretcher hidden behind a light-green curtain. Vitaly felt like he didn't want to know what was there...

The officer opened the curtain. In the stretcher laid a slender soldier with what was left of a gasmask. His clothes were dirty rags, his body was covered with wounds and his boots stained of mud and blood. His mouth had no lips, showing permanently a savage grin, and his skin had a greyish colour:

'Your very first snork!', the general exclaimed 'It's sedated, but you should give it another dose.'

'Yes sir...', Vitaly just blinked his eyes, afraid to get closer of the growling creature:

'Those stupid stalkers, couldn't they find us a better one?', grumbled the lab assistant. Vitaly wasn't sure if he wanted a bigger one...:

'So... what am I supposed to do?', he asked. The general checked his watch and left. The officer shrugged:

'This mutant is 90-95% human. We want to know if there is any possibility of turning him into a human being again.', he informed. He shook hands with Vitaly and with the lab assistant, 'I need to go now, but I'll send two soldiers to keep an eye on the beast. Just in case...'

Yeah, just in case...

Vitaly gave the snork another dose of sedactive. It just growled and went quiet again. The lab assistent was impatiently waiting with a pen and a notebook:

'Ok... so... a male individual...', started Vitaly, carefully tying the snork to the stretcher with leather straps on his arms, wrist, waist, legs and ankles, '1.60m tall...'. Even more carefully, Vitaly removed the gaskmask and was quite surprised for finding an almost human face. If it wasn't for the lipless mouth, that snork would be a nice young soldier, 'Caucasian, more precisely slavic, facial feathures, blonde hair, apparently a young individual...'

'It has lices, put the gasmask on again!', the lab assistant suggested. However, Vitaly ignored him and carefuly opened one of the snork's eyes:

'Blue eyes.', he said. Bright shineless blue eyes. Then the two of them untied the snork and managed to measure his weight. 57kg, noted the lab assistent.

But before they could tie it again, the snork began to growl and moved its head. Scared and surprised, the two men dropped it on the floor and the lab assistant ran the faster his old legs could:

'I'm getting help!', he said before closing the door.

Vitaly was too scared to move and stood there, petrified, looking at the snork. It was growling louder and louder:

'Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap...', the young doctor mumbled. He had to do something! Calling all his strenght, he cautiously moved towards the snork and grabbed its arms. The snork just growled. Clumsy and scared, Vitaly dragged the snork to the stretcher and tried to lay it there again. It was difficult, very difficult, and he nearly dropped the mutant again, but after a few tries he managed to lay it down and tied it again.

Just when he finished tying it, the snork opened its eyes and looked around. It found Vitaly and for some seconds, they just stared at each other, the mutant was probably still dizzy, or maybe wondering where was his gasmask. Then that lipless mouth went wide opened and it raised its head, trying to bite.

Vitaly gave a few steps backwards, watching the snork fighting for freedom:

'Don't... don't... don't...', the young doctor prayed.

The door opened and two soldiers ran to the snork, that growled again and tried to release itself a last time before the soldiers used a tazer on it. Vitaly looked away, he didn't want to see how the soldiers would immobilize the snork again. After some angry growls and coarse words, the lab was silent. Vitaly looked at the snork, quiet on the stretcher:

'We'll be outside.', one of the soldiers said. Vitaly just nooded, feeling very pale. The lab assistent was missing, but Vitaly forgave the old man.

He waited until the door closed again. He then took a deep breathe and moved towards the snork. The mutant had closed his eyes and had a noisy breathing:

'Ok... I'm... I'm just going to take a blood sample... please... don't scare me... don't eat me...', Vitaly mumbled. He didn't even know why he was talking to the mutant, it was pretty obvious that thing would never be a human again...

Vitaly turned his backs to get a syringe and when he faced the snork again, it had its head raised and was looking angryly at him. It was bleeding from the wounds all over his body and from a new cut on its jaw. Vitaly bit his lower lip:

'Look... me... me friend!', the young scientist tried. The snork tried to bite and Vitaly carefully aproached the syringe to his arm, or tried to, because the snork started to move again, 'Nononononono...!'

After some struggle, Vitaly managed to get the blood sample. The snork growled wildly at him, not really pleased, still trying to bite. But it soon gave up, breathing heavily, and let its head fall on the stretcher. It growled again as Vitaly moved a little closer. The young doctor just stood there, looking at the mutant, and he suddenly felt sorry for that creature. He looked for a first aid kit, the least he could do was to desinfect those wounds, so he soaked a cotton ball on oxygenated water:

'Don't bite me, don't bite me...', Vitaly begged to the snork as he carefully placed the cotton over the wound on its jaw. The mutant growled lowly and shook its head violently, 'Nonononono, you're going to hurt yourself!'

Yeah, and then what? That thing would probably kill him, so why was he worried?

Vitaly sedated the snork againd and hurried to desinfect its wounds and proceeded noting down its characteristics; that snork had a very deep scar on its backs and fang marks on its right arm. Also, Vitaly found a stained warrant disk, but all he could read was 'Mikhail'.

So that thing had had a name. Vitaly wondered if the snork had family, and how did it got there. It made him sad, to think about that destroyed life.

Another growl, but this time coming from the snork's stomach.

* * *

Vitaly lurked into the kitchen. No one. Carefully, he explored the kitchen, trying to find something he could give the snork. He supposed it liked meat, so maybe a sausage can would be enough. With that precious can in hand, he trotted back to his lab. The old assistent was nowhere to be found. The young scientist got on his lab again and didn't feel surprised in meeting the snork's eyes. The mutant was quite, like if it knew Vitaly had something for it:

'So... the sedative isn't exactly useful with you, right...?', said the young man. He opened the can and the snork growled loudly, demaning the sausages. Vitaly picked one up and, raising his arm at a safe distance from the snork's mouth, he dropped the sausage right into the mutant's mouth. He did that till the can was finally empty. The snork growled again as Vitaly walked away with the empty can, 'What do you want, you ate them all!'

The mutant kept growling and fighting against the leather straps. Vitaly looked at it for a while and he understood the snork didn't move its eyebrows. It just had that permanent wild grin. He aproached the snork again and raised his eyebrows. Surprisingly, the snork stopped growling and just looked at him, maybe surprised; it didn't goggle nor half-close its eyes. The young doctor then smiled, showing his teeth, and the mutant started to growl and trying to bite. Vitaly then smilled without showing his teeth and the snork went quiet again:

'Interesting... reacts to human facial expressions...', he whispered as he wrote in the notebook. Vitaly looked again at the snork; it was quiet now, but tense. He looked at his notebook again, '... even though it has none besides the permanent grin...'

The young scientist closed the notebook and pushed the stretcher to a CT scan machine. The snork growled loudly and tried to bite Vitaly's hands:

'You look so much better when you shut up...', he said. Now, how would he change the snork from the stretcher to the CT machine? Even if he sedated it, it had little effect on the mutant. Still he injected the sedative and prayed everything would go right.

The CT scan showed the snork's internal organs were perfectly the same as the humans organs. His skeleton seemed human, its spine didn't show any distortion, but near the shoulder blades the spine seemed to be too close to the surface. Only the leg muscles seemed to be abnormaly developed and the feet appeared to contain a huge number of very elastic tendons.

Vitaly looked at the slender and skinny snork lying in the stretcher, not really believing the CT scan.

Suddenly, the general entered the lab. The lab assistant was with him and seemed surprised to find out Vitaly had managed to deal alone with the snork. The mutant growled to the new-arrived:

'So, any conclusions?', the general asked. Vitaly handed him the notebook. The general read it and frowned, 'You're going to slow... hurry up.'

Saying that, he left. Vitaly sighed and scratched his head:

'But... this is going to be a slow process... I mean, look at it!', the young scientist exclaimed. The snork was now growling lowly to the lab assistant, 'It has a name, or had...'

'I need to have my medication, I'll be back soon...', said the old man. He left, and Vitaly understood that the snork was now his very own problem.

And what a problem...

* * *

**Review?**


	2. Trying

**To start with, thanks for the review. :)**

* * *

On the following day Vitaly, helped by two soldiers, shaved the snork's head:

'No more lices troubling you...', he whispered as the snork growled, seeming annoyed for becoming a bald mutant. Then it was tied up with chains and taken to the surface, where the soldiers dropped it on the concrete ground and bathed it with a hose. The snork wasn't pleased with the sunny day and the cold water, and it nearly bit one of the soldiers in the leg. As a result, it got kicked in the ribs, but instead of calming down that only made it more furious.

Back to the lab, the soldiers rudely threw the soaked and naked snork to the floor and left, giving Vitaly a powerful tazer. Being left alone with the snork again, Vitaly observed how the mutant looked at him, trying to look threatening and feroucious. However, there was a human, deep pain in that pair of lifeless blue eyes.

Carefully, Vitaly kneeled next to the snork and stretched out a shaking hand. The creature gutturally growled, following with the shaved head the movements of Vitaly's hand. The young scientist touched it's harsh and bruised greyish skin, feeling like that was a historical moment. The snork let out a sigh and made a strange groan, before lying its head on the floor:

'I bet you're hungry and cold...', he murmured, and couldn't help but smile. He was careful not to show his teeth, seemed that showing them was a sign of agression. Another groan. Vitaly stood up and ran to the door.

Alone for a while, the snork looked around, to the big white lab. It spoted the stretcher, still a better place than the cold floor. The mutant tried to crawl, but it failed miserably. Suddenly, it heard the door opening and it growled loudly:

'It's me, Mikhail!', it heard. It didn't know who that Mikhail was, but it recognized Vitaly's voice. The snork looked over its shoulder and there was the young scientist, bringing a towel, a pile of clothes, a pair of boots and a sausage can. The sausage can interested it!

Vitaly kneeled next to the snork and covered it with the towel. The mutant allowed him to dry its skinny body and to attend to its wounds. However, it growled again as the young scientist showed him the clothes:

'They're just like the ones you had!', he exclaimed, 'Can you understand me?'

Yep, the magical atmosphere he had felt was gone, the snork was growling again at the clothes. Vitaly took a deep breathe and, even though he didn't want to, he used the tazer and dressed the mutant while it was dizzy.

However, before Vitaly could tie it again in the stretcher, the snork recovered and pushed him with strenght. Loosing his balance, Vitaly fell over his backs on the floor. The snork let out a growl, like if it was laughing, and it crouched next to Vitaly, that creepy wild grin adorning its almost human face.

Vitaly was just too terryfied to scream and just goggled his eyes. The snork reminded him of a very angry dog about to attack, and the mutant placed a leg on each side of him and grabbed his arms. That pair of shineless blue eyes studyed Vitaly's face, and the young scientist could smell the snork's putrid breathe. For some silent minutes, Vitaly thought the snork would bite his head off, but the mutant moved away and started to explore the lab, smelling everything.

Vitaly let out a weak pray and, slowly, turned into a sitting position. The snork had its backs turned at him and, if he was bold and fast, he could attack the snork with the tazer and tie it again to the stretcher.

However, he would not do that. He felt like he couldn't. May it have been luck, or may it have been the mutant's good will, the snork had just scared him, it didn't even hurt him. But he had to find a way to keep the snork in the lab, how could he do that?

Well, he couldn't show fear, or much fear. He had to look like he was calm. He cleared his throat:

'Mikhail?', he called. The snork completely ignored and jumped to the top of the CT machine, 'Nononono! Get out of there!'

The snork growled as an answer; what an interesting place it had just found! It could see everything from that nice high spot, and surely no one could take it out there.

Vitaly licked his lips, nervously, and he looked at the door; please, keep that damn door closed! Carefuly, he stood up. The snork growled once more and followed Vitaly with the sight as the young scientist aproached the CT machine:

'Come on, get out of there...', he begged and appointed the stretcher, 'You must go there!'

A groan. Vitaly rolled his eyes:

'Please!'

Another groan. Vitaly frowned, and that simple gesture caught the snork's attention. It looked carefully at the young scientist's face, fixing its eyes on Vitaly's eyebrows. Then suddenly, it jumped to the floor and stood up, placing its hands on Vitaly's shoulders. It was much shorter than the young man, but that didn't stop the mutant to be curious. So the snork raised a hand and shamelessly poked Vitaly's eyebrows. Shocked with such an act, Vitaly rose his brows and dropped his jaw. _This is not happening..._, he thought.

But it was, and the mutant was in fact very intrigued with Vitaly's face. For some minutes, the snork poked his face and smelled him, until it let out another growl and crouched again, still looking directly to Vitaly's eyes. The young scientist didn't break the eye contact, and noticing it was going to find resistence, the snork walked away growling lowly and decided to hide under Vitaly's desk.

The young man rubbed his face with the hands and felt like his legs could not support his weight. He leaned against the CT machine, trying to recover from what had just happened; for what he had been told, the mutants didn't have feelings or emotions, sensations and will, and were merely moved by bloodthirst and hunger. However, the very snork hidden under his desk appeared to have some sensibilty left. Especially, curiosity.

And if it had any sensibilty and curiosity, so maybe Vitaly could make something for it, and maybe for more of them! The thought cheered the young scientist and he walked towards the desk. The snork growled and lurked, trying to see what Vitaly was doing:

'So, I need a plan for you...', he mumbled while writing, 'You need to put on a healthy weight, then I'll teach you walking normally, and we can make some intelligence tests...'

Vitaly kept writing. The snork watched, interested, and concluded he hadn't checked what was that thing on which Vitaly was writing. So it jumped to the desk and smelled the notebook, not really caring the young scientist was still writing. The notebook seemed nice, so the snork bit it. Vitaly goggled his eyes and slapped the mutant's shaved head:

'Mikhail, don't!', he exclaimed. What a cheek! The snork growled threateningly and clenched its jaw. Vitaly gave a little step backwards and the snork started to bite the notebook again.

The young scientist cursed and ran to the kitchen, locking the lab door behind him.

* * *

Vitaly came back from the kitchen with some raw meatballs, a packet of chips and a chocolate. The snork would not put on a healthy weight with such items, but would surelly leave his notebooks alone... if he still had it...

He unlocked the door and the first thing he did was throwing a meatball to the floor. The snork jumped from behind the door to the middle of the lab and devoured the meatball. Vitaly got in and locked the door again, not taking his eyes off the mutant, that looked at him expecting some more.

Vitaly showed a meatball in his hand and the snork walked in all his four to him, growling:

'You'll only get this if you go to the stretcher.', the young man said. The snork stood up and tried to grab the meatball, but Vitaly was too tall. Frustrated, it let out an angry snarl and jumped over Vitaly, making him fall over his backs and letting go the meatball. It swalloed it and looked at Vitaly, waiting for more.

The young scientist decided to make an experiment; he didn't move and tried to breathe very quietly. After some seconds, he felt the snok walking around him and smelling him. The mutant obviously found the food inside Vitaly's pockets and pulled the box with the meatballs, the packet of chips and the chocolate off his pocket. It didn't have much trouble in blowing with the hand the packet of chips, but it wasn't able to oped the box with the meatballs and the packet containing the chocolate.

Frustrated again, the snork snarled and shook Vitaly by the shoulder. The young scientist still didn't move and the snork hid under the desk again.

_It has different vocalizations, applied in different circumstances._, Vitaly thought, _Incapable of opening boxes_. He kept quiet, very quiet, pretending he was dead. Somehow, and he couldn't explain why, he felt sad because the snork didn't care much he was lying there and was more interested in the food. But maybe that only happened because it was starving..._  
_

Vitaly was about to move when he felt the snork walking towards him again and sitting next to him like a dog. After a few seconds, he felt that the snork placed a hand over his chest and shook him. It didn't grow nor snarl, but it made a deep, gutural sound.

Slowly, Vitaly opened an eye. The mutant went silent and approached its face, Vitaly could see how perfect its teeth were. It smelled his face and Vitaly opened the other eye, but didn't move. He could not avoid a smile when the snork blew its head against his:

'Are you worried?', he asked, changing to a sitting position. No expression came across Mikhail's face, but the snork grabbed the box with the meatballs and the chocolate and stretched them to the young scientist. Vitaly let out an unhappy sigh and opened the box and the chocolate.

He sat at his desk, watching the snork devouring the meatballs, the chocolate and some lost chips from the floor. He picked up his drooled notebook and wrote down his conclusions. When he closed it again, the snork had already hidden under his desk and had laid over his feet, ready to take a good nap:

'You scared me, you robbed the food, you ate my notebook and now you use me as a pillow?', Vitaly said, looking at the snork curled up over his feet. The mutant let out a sigh and hid its face in its arms, like a cat. Vitaly opened the notebook again and wrote down _Seems I gained its trust._

Then, the young scientist made a list of experiments he'd try to make with the snork and proposed some hypothesis; seemed this work would be much better than what he had fist thought. Vitaly then realized he was hungry and checked his watch; 2 pm! And no lunch for him! He looked at the sleeping snork and, very carefully, he tried to remove his feet from under the snork's body. However, the snork croaked lowly and raised its head, and its lifeless blue eyes seemed to glow in the semi-darkness under the desk. Vitaly thought it really creepy:

'I'm going to get food, stay here.', Vitaly ordered. He stood up and made his way to the door, glancing over his shoulder just to make sure he wasn't being followed. He locked the snork in the lab and trotted to the cantine, wondering if he could get an extra-dose for the mutant. When he got there it was empty, and the young man wondered if those damned soldiers had already eaten everything. The best he got were two bowls of soup and two breads...

Before entering the lab, he threw a bread to the floor. As he expected, the snork came out from his hidding place behind the door and chased the bread. Vitaly got in and locked the door:

'I hope I can get us a better dinner...', he mumbled. The snork was happily devouring the bread. Vitaly put the tray with a bowl in the floor, next to the snork, and sat at his desk watching and eating his soup.

The mutant ate the whole bread and looked around, looking for more. It noticed the bowl and gave a little step backwards, probably surprised with that thing. Vitaly laughed as the snork growled to the bowl:

'It's good, you can eat it!', he said. The snork ignored him and circled the bowl for a while, until it finally aproached and smelled the soup. No expression came across its face when it looked at Vitaly, 'Soup. Good for you.'

Another growl and the snork sat in the floor, looking at Vitaly again. The young scientist frowned, intrigued, and wondered if that snork was already getting too sassy to refuse certain types of food. Or maybe it didn't have a clue of how to eat the soup...

Vitaly facepalmed, frustrated; of course, the snork had no lips! And its head was too large for it to eat like a cat. Well, no panic, no panic... He stood up, picked up the bowl and put it over the table:

'Sit there.', he told the snork, appointing his chair. The snork just blinked its eyes, 'Mikhail... go... to... chair...'

The snork yawned. Vitaly sighed and walked towards it, ready to hold it by the armpits and sit in the chair, but the snork growled again, trotted away and jumped to the top of the CT machine. Vitaly cursed, and, for some brief seconds, it seemed to him that the snork offered him a sardonic stare. He shook his head and looked again, and the snork had the same motionless face.

The young scientist scrateched his head, looking around, trying to find a way to get the snork out of the CT machine. He noticed his untouched bread and grabbed it:

'Look what I have here!', he exclaimed waving the bread. The snork didn't move and he got closer 'Look, come and get it!'

The mutant snarled and jumped to Vitaly, making the young man to fall over his backs and drop the bread. The young scientist cursed, defeated again by the same technic. He sat, rubbing the backs of his head, while the snork ate the bread:

'Bad Mikhail, bad!', he grumbled. Not that the snork cared... Vitaly half-closed his eyes and, suddenly, let himself fall again, his face against the floor. As in the first time, the snork firstly ignored and made its way to the desk, still curious about the bowl. It jumped to the chair and starred at the soup inside the bowl, something that smelled good but it couldn't reach... The mutant sighed, jumped to the floor again and trotted to Vitaly. It shook him once, twice, three times... but the young scientist didn't move.

The mutant let out a deep, gutural sound, just exactly like the first time Vitaly had done that, and placed a hand over his backs. Unlike the first time, nothing happened. The snork blinked its eyes and it felt confused. It circled Vitaly and bit his leg, but its intentions were far from hurting or eating the young scientist. In spite of the sudden pain and surprise, Vitaly didn't move, and felt the snork's sudden disturbance. The mutant circled him again, blowing its head against him, and then laid next to him making the same deep, gutural sound.

Vitaly raised his head and put on a 'I'm in pain!' face as he rolled over his backs. The snork squated next to him, running its shineless eyes through Vitaly, looking for blood, for a wound. The young scientist then smilled, not showing his teeth, and the snork tilted its head:

'Are you worried?', the young man asked. The snork just looked at him and he sighed sadly, 'Or you probably just want the soup...'

He sat and rubbed his aching backs. Surprisingly, the snork stretched out his hand and clumsily petted Vitaly's backs, like saying 'There there, you'll be fine...'.

Vitaly stood up and walked towards the desk, followed by the snork. This time, but still growling, the mutant allowed Vitaly to sit it in the chair. The young scientist then showed it a spoon and seemed to him that the snork tried to goggle its eyes:

'This is a spoon. A spoon.', Vitaly said. Not that the snork cared..., 'You use the spoon like this...', he proceeded as he tried to make the snork hold the spoon. Surprisingly, the snork didn't have any difficulty in holding it, even though it growled when Vitaly's hand touched its. The young scientist was just too excited to care about the growling and he held his own spoon and exemplified how to use it.

The snork observed, then looked at its spoon and to the soup. It immersed the spoon in the soup and Vitaly felt like the father who sees his son giving his first steps. The snork then took the spoon to its mouth and tried to eat it together with the soup that dropped from its lipless mouth...

* * *

At the end of the day Vitaly felt extremely tired and promised to never give soup to the snork again... Cleaning the mess and putting on clean tank tops on an hyperactive snork was a work too heavy for a poor scientist like him.

But finally there he was, writing in his notebook the conclusions of the day, while looking at the snork lying over his feet, satisfied with the juicy steaks Vitaly had given it.

The young scientist closed his notebook and stood up, making the snork growl lowly:

'See you tomorrow, Mikhail.', he said as he walked to the door. The mutant watched as the young scientist turned off the lights and locked the door. It looked around and realized it was alone.

Vitaly went to his bedroom and was putting on his pyjamas when he heard a loud, deep and gutural sound. He froze, and imagined if the snork had managed to get out the lab. He got dressed again and ran to the lab, just to check if the snork was still there. As he was running, he could hear the same call. Yes, it was a call, the same the snork had used when Vitaly pretended to be dead. The young scientist unlocked the door and looked inside the dark lab. He spotted the snork's silhouette sitting over the desk, but what called his attention were its glowing blue eyes. Disturbed, he turned on the light:

'Mikhail, be quiet!', he demanded, 'Go to sleep and don't mess anything!'

He turned off the light again and locked the door.

And during the whole night Vitaly heard that loud, deep and gutural call.

* * *

**Review?**


	3. Trying II

On the following day Vitaly stood up earlier than the usual and assaulted the kitchen; you see, just some stuff like apples and toasts for him and the snork.

As he entered his lab, he found the snork lying in the middle of the floor like an abandoned sad corpse. He was about to drop the tray with the breakfasts when the mutant looked at him. Its expressionless grinning face was betrayed by its body; the snork stood on all his fours and trotted to Vitaly, just like the dog that greets its owner:

'I know you're hungry, that's why I brought us breakfast!', Vitaly said, placing the tray over his desk. The snork was more interested in blowing its head against Vitaly's legs. The young scientist smiled, truely happy, and wondered that if in only two days he had managed to create something with that mutant.

But suddenly the snork jumped to the desk and started devouring an apple. Vitaly let out a disappointed sigh and sat in his comfortable chair:

'You have no manners...', he mumbled, quickly grabbing his apple before the snork could notice it. The mutant looked at him while chewing its apple and Vitaly noticed the wild and threatening look was gone; if it weren't those perfect teeth, always reminding him that mutant was a carnivorous, he would probably pretend the mutant was his new pet.

After eating, Vitaly decided to let the snork explore again the lab. He just watched, feeling some strange kind of warm happiness; just a few days ago that creature was growling and trying to bite, and in that very moment it was silent, happilly trotting around the lab. The young scientist scratched his dark blond head and wondered why did the snork call during the night; could it miss someone, or could it be uncomfortable, alone in the dark?

Suddenly the mutant tensed up and looked at the door. It started to growl and prepeared to leap at the poor soul who was about to enter the lab:

'Mikhail, don't!', Vitaly yelled, nearly jumping from his chair. The door opened and the general entered, almighty in his uniform, and the smile that adorned his face vanished in a blink as he saw the free snork growling, still about to leap at him. Vitaly opened and closed his mouth as a fish out of water, but no sound came out. The general then appointed a small gun at the snork:

'Explain!', he ordered. Vitaly nervously bit his lower lip and dared to hold the snork's shoulders:

'This is Mikhail, he's a very curious guy!', the young scientist started, his weak voice nearly inaudible due to the growls, 'I think he has a solution, I...'

'Let me see the DNA tests and the analyzes to its blood, then.', the general interrupted. Vitaly grew pale; he had been so excited with the snork's surviving personality that he had completely forgotten to make his main work; the scientific research:

'I... I don't have them, yet...', Vitaly said, truely embarassed. The general clenched his jaw and gave a step forwards. The mutant tried to release from Vitaly's hands and the scientist gently pushed it aside. Still growling, the snork crawled to under the desk and fixed its angry stare in the general:

'May I ask you why?', the general asked, stopping near Vitaly and crossing his arms. Vitaly sighed and resumed what had happened in those two days; he hoped the general would understand and forgive this fault. And when the young scientist finished his story, the general offered him a dangerous smile, 'Oh, Doctor... you don't need to worry about the snork... soon a skilled psychologist will join our team and you won't have to bother about this snork anymore.'. The general punched the top of the desk with his fist, scaring Vitaly and making the snork to growl louder, 'I want the analyzes tomorrow!'

With this, he left. And the snork went quiet again.

Vitaly hid his face on his hands; he was not tired at all, he was not afraid of the general... but the information that someone else was going to study the mutant... _his_ mutant, made him sick. And he couldn't tell exactly why.

When the young scientist looked again, the snork had climbed to the top of the desk and had its face at a scarce distance from Vitaly's. Those lifeless blue eyes studied him, and Vitaly felt like the snork could read him like if he was a very obvious book with big, capital letters. He smiled sadly, and the snork frowned, much to the scientist's joy. He sat at the edge of the desk:

'You heard the spooky man, I have to work now...', he sighed, 'You can't growl at people, if a drunken soldier gets in you'll probably be shot down, and I don't want that.'. He picked up his notebook and noted down that the mutant had moved its blond eyebrows for the first time. Vitaly let out another sigh and looked again at the mutant, 'Can you understand me?'

The snork scratched its neck and Vitaly could swear that funny creature was just making fun of him. Oh well...

He stood up and walked to a big white cabinet with drawers and picked up a swab. The snork frowned again when he came back:

'It won't hurt, just open your mouth.', the scientist said. But the snork just clenched its jaw. When Vitaly tried to put the swab into its mouth, the snork bit it.

After some struggle and four bitten swabs, Vitaly managed to get a sample of the snork's saliva. The mutant pouted and hid under the desk, where it remained until it felt hungry. Silently, it crawled on all its four to the workbench where Vitaly was analyzing the DNA sample. The snork sat at his feet and pulled his smock:

'Yes?', the young man asked. The snork grunted and opened and closed its mouth a few times, pretending to chew. Vitaly smilled, uncounsciously showing his teeth, but the snork didn't really care about it.

* * *

After lunch the snork spent the rest of the time lying in the stretcher, a more comfortable place to take a nap. It only woke up when it felt Vitaly shaking it. The mutant opened an eye and snarled, but then growled at the syringe Vitaly showed it:

'I need another blood sample, I'm sorry...', the young scientist explained. But the snork didn't want to cooperate and quickly hid under the desk. Vitaly went after it, 'Mikhail!'

Seeing it wasn't safe under the desk, the snork tried to go to another hiding place, but Vitaly caught it and, being taller and having chased the snork by the backs, sat it on the stretcher again. But he didn't tie the snork, that tried to push him away with his feet and hands:

'Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap...', the young scientist hissed as he got his knee kicked; you just don't mess with a snork that has steel-toe combat boots! Vitaly finally managed to stop the snork and take the blood sample.

Offended, the snork jumped to the top of the CT machine and didn't come down until Vitaly brought dinner. The young scientist decided to teach the snork how to use the fork and the knife and he succeded:

'Today was a very produtive day, don't you think Mikhail?', Vitaly asked. The snork belched before licking the beef's sauce in the dish. The young man huffed and puffed, but it had been good enough the mutant had used correctly the fork and the knife. He pushed his dish aside and looked up, thinkative; he still had to write a good relatory... that damn base had everything but computers, he wondered why... Well, he would do the relatory in the morning.

Vitaly stood up and picked up the dishes before the snork decided to eat them too:

'I'll be back in a while.', he said. The mutant jumped from the chair to the floor and sat, looking at the door without blinking.

Some time later Vitaly came back with a warm blanket. The snork trotted at him and circled him while smelling the blanket:

'Now you can sleep warm and comfortable. Isn't it great?', the young scientist announced as he put the blanket under his desk. The snork seemed to enjoy that new thing and laid over it, stretching its elegant body like a lazy cat. Vitaly stood there for a while, looking at that creature that only two days ago he had feared and repudiated, that creature that only two days ago was dressed in bloody rags and had its head hidden inside what was left of a GP-5 gas mask. That very hedious being was now peacefuly lying in a blanket over his desk, dressed like a soldier and showing everyone a pair of stunning lifeless blue eyes.

The human heart is something incredible.

Vitaly carefuly petted the snork's head:

'Have a good night Mikhail, I'll be back tomorrow.', he whispered. The young scientist stood up, turned off the light and left, locking the door behind him.

The snork was quiet for a while, until it realized the blond haired man was going to take a long time to come back, just like the other nights before. The mutant looked around and curled up in the blanket. It then made that loud, deep and gutural sound until it was so tired it fell asleep.

Vitaly heard the calling again and was sure he and Mikhail shared a bond.

* * *

It was very early when Vitaly went to his lab, carrying a dish full of pancakes with a honey topping. The young scientist had a small smile, that only got bigger when he entered his lab and the mutant woke up immidiatly:

'Look what I got us!', he exclaimed, placing the dish over the desk. He grabbed a pancake and sat in front of the snork. The mutant blinked its shineless eyes and smelled the offering, 'I baked them myself.'

The snork ate from Vitaly's hand, much for the scientist's happiness. Then, while Vitaly wrote a relatory and checked the results of the DNA tests and the analyzes, Mikhail curled up again in the blanket and fell asleep, using Vitaly's feet as a pillow. The tests showed the snork's DNA was little different from a human's, but its blood was composed by only 30% of erythrocytes, which made the young scientist wonder about the grey skin colour and the time the mutant wounds would need to heal. He also thought if he could manage, through food and medication, to increase the number of red blood cells, and if it would affect the snork. He wrote down these hypotheses.

And since he had managed to get his work done, Vitaly decided to prepare a few tests to 'play' with the snork. Maybe he could show the general no psychologist was needed, that he could make all the work. Afterall, the snork was _his _'problem', everyone had made it clear.

He looked at the sleeping mutant and realized he needed to change its bandages. But that had time, now he'd let the snork sleep peacefully.

However, the snork woke up and tensed up, and Vitaly understood the general was coming. He stood up and grabbed the papers, he'd show that brute how good he was:

'Mikhail, do not growl.', he ordered as the snork lurked from under the desk and began to growl. In fact, the general opened the door and stepped in, followed by a monstruous soldier carrying something hidden behind his backs. The general closed the door and stretched out his hand, not getting any closer to Vitaly or to the snork:

'Seems that creature enjoys a certain freedom.', the general said as Vitaly handed him the papers, 'I have something for you then, so you can walk your dog.' With this said, the soldier showed Vitaly an apparently normal leather collar at the end of a short and heavy chain. The general turned over the leaves of Vitaly's work, 'It has sensors, so every time your snork dares to try to attack, it will receive an electric shock. It's not enough to kill it, but I'm sure it will think twice before doing it again.'

'Excuse me sir, but I object!', Vitaly exclaimed, feeling indignated. The snork growled louder and crawled next to Vitaly, 'Mikhail is a pacific individual, I'm convinced he would not attack people if I was with him!'

'Your function here is to study it, not to befriend it and not to contradict me!', the general yelled, and his neck suddenly became red. The snork growled louder.

The soldier then walked towards the snork. Vitaly wanted to do something to stop him, but for some reason he felt like his boots were glued to the floor. So, he watched helplessly how the snork tried to defend itself and how the soldier, probably a very experienced one, easily grabbed the snork's foot and violently threw it against the stretcher. The young scientist hid his face on his hands when he saw the mutant hit the border of the stretcher with his backs before falling in the floor. Vitaly hid his face again; he didn't want to see how the soldier would the put the collar on the snork's neck.

During some seconds, the growling was louder than the sound of punches and the coarse words, but it soon ceased and, reluctantly, Vitaly looked over the mutant, lying motionless in the floor.

The general and the soldier left. Vitaly ran after them and locked the door, suddenly feeling a burning hatred against those men. He then ran to the snork and kneeled next to it:

'Mikhail?', he called worridly, 'Misha...?'. Apparently, the snork wasn't injured. The young scientist caressed his head and grimaced at the nasty collar; he was so going to take it off!

The snork snarled and shook its head. Vitaly sighed in relief:

'Are you okay?', he asked. The young scientist expected the snork to grunt something and allow him to remove the collar, but the mutant let out a growl and moved away from Vitaly. He frowned and stretched out his hand. The snork slapped it and growled louder. Vitaly dragged himself closer, completely lost, 'What's wrong with you, Misha? Come on, I'm not going to hurt you, you know that...'

He stretched out his hand again, not paying attention at the snork's expressionless face. He was almost reaching the collar when the mutant bit his wrist with strenght, tearing off skin and flesh.

Vitaly screamed in pain and the mutant ran away, hidding in some dark corner of the lab.


	4. Trying III

Vitaly goggled his brown eyes and stared in shock at his bleeing wrist; the snork... it had just bitten him! Him, Vitaly, who had cared so much about that damned creature! For the young scientist it felt like it was the end of the world; Mikhail was a little sand castle he was building so carefully and gently... but was ruined by some stupid huge wave. He couldn't fight nature alone, right?

He clenched his jaw in pain and remained sitting in the floor, leaning his body against the white wall of the lab. He pulled his knees to his chest and covered the wound with the other hand.

From its hidding place, the snork observed. The sweet taste of Vitaly's blood on its mouth made it drool and for a few minutes it was soooo tempted to attack the wounded scientist...

Though, it hesitated; there was a strange and heavy weight inside it, and memories from the recent happenings, since those damn stalkers had caught it, to eating the pancake from Vitaly's hand, paraded before its eyes. The snork looked at its slender hands, feeling guilty for the first time in its mutant life. Surprisingly it knew, or had an idea, of what to do and try to fix things. Yes, it wanted to fix things, it knew perfectly he had screwed up the situation.

It cleaned Vitaly's blood to the backs of its hand and carefully crawled to the scientist, dragging the heavy chain along. Vitaly heard the snork, but didn't look at it. He didn't know what the mutant was about to do and at the moment he was just too sad to wonder about it.

The snork grunted, circling the scientist. No reaction. The mutant sat next to him, studying Vitaly's round, typically slavic, sad face. No reaction. The snork made a strange gutural sound, something between a growl and a moan. Vitaly closed his eyes for a while:

'Just leave me alone, yes?', he muttered.

The snork frowned, and if Vitaly was in the mood he would have rejoyced in identifying a sad expression in the mutant's grinning face. The mutant approached its head to Vitaly's wounded wrist and, with the forehead, pushed away the hand that covered the wound. Vitaly frowned lighty when the snork began to lick the wound. He remained quiet, lethargic, feeling the snork's tongue carefully caress the slashed flesh.

Then the mutant looked at him, tilting its shaved head, frowning and raising its eyebrows. Vitaly sighed, stretched out a hand and removed the collar from the snork's neck. That piece of leather and technology fell on the floor at the snork's feet:

'There, you're free again.', the young scientist said. The snork couldn't care less if he was free or not! It bit one of Vitaly's sleeves and pulled, trying to make the young man stand up.

With a sigh, Vitaly rose from the floor and walked towards a small cupboard over the workbench, from where he took a first-aid kit. He put some gauze around his wounded wrist and picked up some bandages and ointments for the snork.

During the rest of the day Vitaly didn't do nothing. He didn't even have lunch and the snork didn't ask for food either; it just laid at his feet, regreting deeply what it had done. As for the man, he just kept in that lethargic state.

When it was time to go to sleep, Vitaly just left without a word. The snork followed him but the young scientist locked the door before it could pass. For hours, the snork scratched the door and emited that loud, deep and gutural sound, but it had no answer.

Meanwhile Vitaly could not sleep. He was feeling hungry, but didn't want to eat. He was tired, strangely emotionaly exhausted, but he could not sleep. Hearing the snork calling, he suddenly remembered about his wounded wrist. He hadn't even washed the wound, maybe the snork's saliva and teeth, contamined with rooten flesh from its mutant or human preys, could have infected the wound.

He uncovered it and goggled his eyes and he found a thin but healthy crust. Of course, the snork was still covered in open wounds because it couldn't lick them!

In a normal situation, he would have partied the whole night, believing blindly in the snork's kindness and good will. However, in that very moment he doubted; had the snork been moved by good forces, or it had been just an excuse to have some more blood? It sounded stupid, it was not a vampire... still...

Vitaly dropped his torso over the pillow and covered his face with his hands, letting out a frustrated 'uuuurgh!'. Well, he'd see that later.

* * *

On the next morning the young scientist woke up and checked his watch; 5 am. Crap... he felt tired, but on the other hand he didn't want to sleep or to stay in the bed until it was really time to wake up...

He stood up, had a shower and got dressed. His wrist was healed, but a very ugly, dark pink scar would always be there to remind him about the snork. He noted in his notebook that the snork's saliva had healing properties, he needed to study that better.

Leaving his room, he made his way to the kitchen and stole a few butter biscuits and a glass of milk with a straw. One of these days he'd have to give the cooker some explanations...

The young scientist unlocked the door of his lab and opened it, noticing that the door was pushing something as it opened. He looked at the floor and there was the snork, seemed that it had fallen asleep there, crying for Vitaly and scratching the door.

The mutant raised its head and jumped to a squatting position, wrapping its skinny arms around Vitaly's leg. The young scientist bit his lower lip, uneasy, and walked towards his desk, dragging the mutant with him:

'I suppose you're hungry.', he stated. It had to be, and maybe it had smelled the food and was acting cute, it surelly had already noticed Vitaly liked when it was cute. So the young scientist placed the plate with the biscuits and the glass of milk over his desk and sat in a chair. He expected the snork to jump over the table or to sit in the other chair, but the mutant just kept hugging his leg.

Like it was really sorry, and was trying really hard to convince him it wouldn't bite him again.

Like if it really cared...

Vitaly sighed, grabbed a biscuit and handed it to the snork. The mutant just buried its shaved head in his leg. The young scientist smilled a little:

'I know you are hungry... come on, eat.'

But nothing.

With another sigh, he draped the snork's arms around his shoulders and hauled the mutant up, sitting it on his lap. The mutant looked around, surprised, and arched its eyebrows. The young scientist offered it again the biscuit:

'I'm not angry with you...' he said. Well, he wasn't exactly angry, he felt like he was more disappointed. Shyly, the snork ate from his hand and managed to drink the milk with the straw.

Still the mutant felt something was wrong, very wrong, and when Vitaly put it again in the floor, it just curled at his feet. Vitaly predicted a difficult day...

The young scientist found some magazines inside one of the desk's drawers, about science, nature and a little book that seemed to be something like a surviving guide in the Zone. He cut some images from the magazines and in a white paper he drew a happy smile and a sad smile, that he put side to side:

'Ok Mikhail, let's go back to work...', he sighed, standing up. He stood up and tapped the chair, waiting for the snork to sit there. The mutant slowly took Vitaly's place and looked at the papers displayed over the desk, a little curious, 'See this pictures? You have to organize them.'

He then grimmaced, maybe he hadn't explained it well. Or maybe the snork wouldn't associate the pictures to the correct emoticons, or it wouldn't even recoginze those things!

But Mikhail looked at the pictures; flowers, butterflies, a shinning sun, a cloudy day, a skull and a dead tree. It then looked at the two faces, one happy and another sad. The happy reminded him of Vitaly's smile, and how that human's smile made him feel oddly light. The sad face was just a little exaggeration of Vitaly's current face, and the snork didn't like it.

His blue eyes fixed the flowers; he didn't know what was that, he had never seen such thing outside, in what he called 'home', but the beautiful colours and shapes were pleasent to the sight. Slowly, he moved the little paper to the side of the smilling face.

Vitaly goggled his eyes.

The snork then looked at the butterflie and followed the same logic of the flower. He applied the same to the dead tree, because he had seen plenty of those and he liked to climb them and sleep on the branches.

Now there were only left the shinning sun, the cloudy day and the skull. Without hesitation, the snork put the skull next to the sad face; he couldn't explain why, maybe he just didn't like that thing. He then looked thoughtfully at the two last pictures, and decided he prefered couldy days to sunny days, so he moved the cloudy day to the smilling face and the sunny one to the sad face.

He looked back at Vitaly, and in his dead blue eyes the young scientist could read 'mission accomplished, my captain!'

The young scientist dropped his jaw; the snork had done it so easily, so secure of himself! And in so little time! Of course, there some out-of-the-pattern choices, but still... He petted the mutant's head:

'Very... very well!', he whispered. He grabbed his notebook and described the experience and the results. When he placed the notebook over the desk again the snork was still in the same place, like if it wanted more funny things to do.

Vitaly displayed six pens over the table; red, blue, black, red, blue, black:

'Can you copy it?', he asked, showing the snok the right pens among others with different colours. The snork didn't have any difficulty in choosing the black and red pens, but it cound't find the blue pen. Intrigued, Vitaly led some tests and discoved that Mikhail had some weird tritanopia, since it could recognize the yellow and green colours. The young scientist wondered if the snork had gotten this from the mutation or through an injury, or if he was already like that before being a snork.

It would be so sad if the snork looked himself in the mirror and couldn't realize how beautiful his blue eyes were... He displayed the pens again:

'What colour are your eyes?', he asked, appointing the pens. The snork looked from the pens to Vitaly, but didn't do nothing. The young scientist frowned and picked up a yellow pen, 'This? Yes...' and he nodded, '... or no?', and he shook his head. The snork clumsyly shook his head. They repeated the process, and the snork always said 'no'. Finally, there was only the blue pen left.

_Whaaa...? But how...?, _the man thought, completely confused. Maybe the snork couldn't detect certain types of blue...?

He'd see that after lunch.

* * *

But it happened that Vitaly suddenly had the brillian idea of watching the snork's reactions to a mirror. So he brought a mirror to his lab.

The snork reacted as expected; at first, he growled and hid behind Vitaly, but his curiosity lead him to approach the mirror, smell it, circle it, until the snork finally looked at his reflection, tilting his head.

Vitaly smiled a little.


	5. Friends

The young scientist observed as Mikhail studied the Mikhail in the mirror and wondered if the snork had a sense of himself. Could the snork understad he was a mutant? Could the snork understand he wasn't exacly pleasent to the sight? Could the snork understand his own actions?

At the moment, Vitaly really wanted to believed in that last conjecture; he was sure the snork adapted his behaviour to the situations, but was it calculated or a very complex psychological and emotional process? Was with the purprose of obtaining something, like a tamed animal, or something more human?

The young scientist held the paper with the smiling face on a hand and the sad face on the other:

'Misha, where do you think you belong?', he asked. The snork looked at him; at least the mutant already recognized his name...

Mikhail looked at the happy face and then at the mirror. He could swear that he had seen other creatures that seemed like him before... but they had something covering part of their heads... He looked at Vitaly; no, he wasn't like him too... So, if he didn't know what he was, how could he know where he belonged?

The snork snarled and studied the smilling face. Vitaly had smiled to him a lot, but then... the snork's eyed fixed on the sad face. He could still feel something tense between him and the scientist, something wrong, something that hadn't been there. He looked again at his reflection in the mirror and then to Vitaly; the man had something nice, pleasent, and the snork didn't. The man stood tall and impressive, and the snork was just a creepy squatting creature.

So Mikhail appointed the sad face and his eyes met Vitaly's, waiting for approval. But the young scientist just frowned:

'Why?', he asked. He really didn't expect that. To be honest, he didn't even think the snork would be able to answer. The mutant looked down, eyebrows lightly frowned, something sad in that wild grin. Vitaly kneeled next to him and petted his shaved head, 'Why?', he repeated.

The snork appointed the horrible scar on his wrist.

And it was enough to make Vitaly understand that the mutant was sorry about that, that the mutant knew it had been his fault, that the mutant understood he had caused pain. That Mikhail regreted it. Vitaly sighed thoughtfully, until he stood up and walked to his desk. Over it there was the damned collar; he didn't want to use it, but he also didn't want to get in troubles. Better, he didn't want Mikhail to get in troubles.

He grabbed the piece of leather and technology and showed it to the snork, whose eyed widened and were crossed by a shadow of fear:

'We worked a lot today, don't you think?', Vitaly asked calmly and kneeled next to the mutant. With a low snarl, the snork allowed Vitaly to put the collar around his neck, 'Now I'm going to take you to a nice place.'

And with that, the scientist stood up and opened the door. Mikhail tilted his head, curious, and he slowly followed Vitaly outside. The lab door closed behind him and the snork found himself in a completely new territory; the long corridor. He trotted as close as possible to Vitaly's legs, looking everywhere and groaning everytime a soldier passed by; he didn't like their expressions, they were not nice like Vitaly, and somehow he didn't like what they said, even though he didn't know exactly what they meant with that:

'What a strange dog you have, Doctor!'

'Doctor, such an ugly pet!'

'Lovely, does it bite? Does it have a name?'

Ignoring everyone, Vitaly opened the gym door and got in. He locked the door and turned on the light, and a huge, ample room was revealed. There were some gym matresses and other material, there were also two goals with some balls lined up inside them. Mikhail looked around, feeling curious but at the same time afraid of leaving Vitaly's protection. He then felt that the collar was no longer on his neck and he watched as the scientist undressed his white smock and left it on the floor:

'Come on Misha, let's have some fun!', the young man exclaimed and ran to the middle of the gym. The snork followed and catched up Vitaly within a few steps and stopped in front of him, still unsure about what they were doing. Vitaly looked around, looking for inspiration, until he spotted a huge gymnastic ball and appointed it, 'Get that ball!'

What was a ball? Mikhail didn't know, but he ran to that thing Vitaly as appointing at. It was strange, round and red and huge, and the snork spent some time smelling it. Seemed innofencive... but how would be take it? He tried to bite the ball and drag it, but the ball rolled away. The snork interpreted that as a prey trying to flee, so he ran after it and leaped to the ball.

He eventually tumbled and Vitaly, waiting in the middle of the gym, laughed so hard he cried. The snork didn't like that insolence and he chased the ball again, jumping, running, squeezing it, kicking it... but the ball was always getting away.

This bothered the snork, Vitaly was waiting! He observed that stupid red thing rolling and rolling, trying to find a solution. Oh, but of course! The snork trotted after the ball and blew his head against it. It rolled away. Yes, it worked! Now he just needed to lead it to Vitaly.

And after several failed attempts, the ball was finally given to Vitaly. The young scientist had taken a seat on a matress and had observed, amazed, how the snork solved the problem. He patted the matress and Mikhail jumped over it and squatted next to the scientist:

'You're a very clever guy, you know?', Vitaly whispered and caressed the snork's head. The mutant just closed his eyes and let out some kind of frightening purr. Seemed he had pleased the scientist, for the tension between them was gone. Mikhail opened his blue eyes again and looked around, feeling a sudden and unknown will of running and jumping and running and jumping.

With an incredible speed, he wrapped his arms around Vitaly's neck and pulled him down. They fell over another matress and the snork rolled over him and then ran away, excited and happy, and Vitaly ran after him.

* * *

It was around 9 p.m. when Vitaly took the snork to his own room:

'Now, be a good boy.', he said as he removed the collar from the snork's neck, 'I'll be back in a minute.'

Vitaly went to the bathroom and left the mutant alone, looking everywhere. Another new place, what an adventurous day! And that place seemed much more nicier than the cold and austere lab. Curious, the snork wandered for a while, smelling everything, until Vitaly came out of the bathroom and seized him:

'A warm bath, what do you think?', he asked and closed the door of the bathroom. The snork didn't like much that place and asked himself what was that thing full of water. He frowned as Vitaly put him on the floor and kneeled next to him, but allowed him to take off his boots and undress him. Vitaly seized him again and carried him to the bathtube. The snork let out a grumble and struggled, trying to flee, but Vitaly was stronger than him and managed to put him inside the bathtube.

Frethful and soaked, the snork splattered some warm water over Vitaly and didn't give Vitaly the chance to lather him:

'It's good for you!', Vitaly exclaimed and tried a last time. More water, he was as soaked as the snork, 'Fine, fine! As you wish!'

He picked up the snork and placed him over a towel previously stretched on the floor. The snork didn't give much trouble to wipe, but it was a true battle to get him dressed again.

Finally, Vitaly opened the bathroom door and the snork leaped to the sleeping room and started to run in circles. The young scientist sighed tiredly:

'Now I'm going to have a bath and then I'll take you back to the lab, behave!', and he closed the door again.

When he closed the door the snork stopped running and looked around. He didn't want to go back to the lab, he didn't want to sleep there! He wanted to stay with Vitaly. There was just a place in that room that the snork hadn't explored yet; the bed. With a snarl, the mutant trotted to the bed and jumped to it; what a nice high spot! And so comfortable and soft! And it had Vitaly's scent on it.

And if it had Vitaly's scent, so it was surely safe. The snork managed to get under the blankets, curled up and fell asleep.

Some time later the young scientist came out of the bathroom:

'Ok Misha, let's go back to the lab.', he said. But Mikhail was nowhere to be seen... The poor man was about to freak out when he noticed there was something on his bed. And he knew exactly who it was...

Carefully, he uncovered the snork a little; he was sleeping deeply and Vitaly could tell he was happy. He bit his lower lip apprehensively; he couldn't let the snork sleep there, he was not supposed to have his study subject on his bed!

But... poor Mikhail, Vitaly knew he didn't like to sleep alone in the lab. And that snork was so special, maybe he could spoil him a little.

So Vitaly got on his pyjamas and laid down beside the snork, looking at his skinny body curled in a ball. Vitaly couldn't help and touched the snork, wondering how he would react. The mutant let out a sigh and nestled on the scientist's chest, and he could hear the young man's heartbeat, so calm, so relaxing.

If that human wasn't Vitaly, the snork would have killed him.


	6. Breakdown

Vitaly woke up at 6 a.m. and he felt like spending the whole day there, doing nothing, just looking at the snork and thinking. Yes, seemed a good plan... but that annoying general could go to his lab and notice he was missing. Worst, that the snork was missing.

With a sigh, the young scientist changed to a sitting position and yawned. He spent some time looking around, to nowhere in particular, until he uncovered the still sleeping snork and petted his head:

'Good morning, Misha!', he saluted. But the mutant, still curled in a small and fragile ball, just grunted and tried to snuggle on the scientist again. Vitaly rolled his eyes and tickled his neck, 'Come on boy, we need to go back.'

The snork grumbled and opened an eye. Did he really had to go? It was so good to be there, he didn't want to move. So the snork turned his back to Vitaly and snuggled on the pillow instead:

'What a cheeky guy you are!', Vitaly stood up and stretched, then he looked around, looking for his clothes that he had thrown somewhere. He got dressed and approached the bed, 'Misha, come on...'

Another grunt. The young scientist picked up the snork and put him on the floor. Unpleased, the mutant snarled and tried to jump back to the bed, but Vitaly seized him by the arm pits and carried him to the bathroom. No, not again! The snork growled lowly and struggled and he eventually managed to run away and hid in the small bar area:

'But you should wash you face!', Vitaly said. What was he saying, that was a mutant! A creature that lived in the Zone, snorks were not supposed to wash their faces! The young scientist facepalmed and closed himself in the bathroom, 'Nevermind...'

Once more, victory was achieved! That scientist was so nice, he always let Mikhail do what he wanted! The snork left his hiding place and trotted to the bed; silly Vitaly, he could have let him sleep a little bit longer... The snork jumped to the bed and laid down over the place where Vitaly's body had rested.

When Vitaly came out of the bathroom he found the snork sleeping again. The young man let out a frustraded sigh, but he coulnd't help a smile; the snork had never looked so human before. He sat at the edge of the bed and shook the mutant by the shoulder:

'Misha, let's go... aren't you hungry?', he asked. The snork grumbled and looked at him; hungry... hm, yes, a little... so he allowed the scientist to put him on the floor again. Mikhail stretched and the scientist thought about an elegant cat.

Again with the collar around his neck, the snork trotted next Vitaly along the corridor. He was feeling bolder now, maybe because there weren't soldiers coming and going. And there he was, back to the lab. Vitaly removed the collar and left to get them breakfast. While waiting, the snork smelled everything, just to be sure nothing had changed.

* * *

Vitaly was analyzing a sample of the snork's saliva under the microscope when the mutant began to growl. He was laid on the floor, next to Vitaly, but hid under the young scientist's desk. Vitaly put his things aside and someone knocked at the door:

'Yes?', he asked, and he had a bad feeling about that.

The general came in, followed by a young woman. She was tall and her high heels made her look even more taller. She was slim, her blond hair was braided and a pair of clever brown eyes shone behind her glasses. She was very well dressed but Vitaly didn't like her, neither the snork, who growled louder. The woman looked around, lightly disturbed, but the general smiled cynically, looking at the abandoned collar on the desk:

'Seems your snork is still enjoying a certain freedom!', he commented. Vitaly just crossed his arms and came closer to the desk:

'Yes, Mikhail wanders freely on my lab. I trust him.', he replayed. _My__ snork, has you've just said._ The general kept smilling:

'So Doctor Fedor, this is Valeria Ivanova, our psychologist.', the general presented the young woman and Vitaly felt that his heart skipped a beat, 'She will work with the snork from now on.'

_No..._

Valeria smiled and stretched out her hand. Reluctantly, Vitaly shook hands with her, feelings and thoughts storming inside him; what would happen to Mikhail? Would he ever see him again? How would she treat him? Would they kill him, after the study was ready, or would they release him into the Zone again?He didn't want to loose that mutant, it was _his _study subject, it was _his pet_!

Mikhail growled louder and his eyes glowed in the darkness under the desk, a ghostly pair of blue dead lights, and soon his cannibalistic grin was revealed. The young woman goggled her eyes and stepped back. Vitaly tried to contain a smile; maybe the snork's scary appearence would make her leave! However, the general patted her shoulder:

'Don't worry, Doctor. Two of my best soldiers will assure your safety. Now come, there are other places to see.' they walked to the door, but before leaving the general spoke to Vitaly again, 'Tomorrow morning my men will take your snork.'

The door closed.

And Vitaly fell over his knees, overwhelmed by anguish. Mikhail left his hidding place and nuzzled the young scientist's cheek, his eyebrows lightly frowned; something was wrong again, and the snork didn't like when things were wrong:

'Misha, I need to explain you a few things...', Vitaly mumbled sadly. He sat on the floor and leaned against his desk, and the snork instantly laid down in the space between the scientist's legs, like a dog trying to comfort his depressed owner. Vitaly sighed sadly, looking at that lovely creature, and he ran his fingers through his shaved hair; the blond hair was growing again, faster than the normal, 'Look, tomorrow... tomorrow you are going to another lab.'

Another? The snork grunted and raised his head to look at the scientist; that word didn't sound nice... He rested his chin over Vitaly's leg, his lifeless eyes glued on Vitaly's:

'And... I don't know if we'll meet again.', the young man concluded sadly. He sighed, 'Can you understand me?'

Mikhail nodded clumsily and Vitaly offered him a smile with no joy; _Recalls and applies recently acquired knowledge. _He pulled the snork to a hug and felt curious about the mutant's reaction, but as he imagined, the snork hugged him back, wrapping strongly his skinny arms around Vitaly's neck. The young man looked around, he could do so much for Mikhail if that stupid general wasn't stupid...

The snork let out a low and gutural howl; had he done something wrong again? No... that man, that man in a uniform, that man he didn't like... he had caused that! Just like when he had brought that stupid thing he wore around his neck! That man had to be destroyed! His day would come, but now Mikhail had to stay with Vitaly, he would not leave him. He didn't want to, and he wouldn't allow those stupid humans to take him away from the nice scientist.

They did nothing the rest of the day, Vitaly just stood there with the snork. It had been just some days, but he felt like he knew that mutant for years. And he was so afraid of what those soldiers and that horrible psychologist could do to him... But he'd try his best to see him, at least at night, and make sure the snork was okay.

That night Vitaly took the snork to his room again, much for the mutant's joy. However, that joy was quickly overshadowed by melancholy and doubt, things the snork had never felt before. And he didn't like those new feelings.

He allowed Vitaly to undress him and they laid down under the blankets, the snork purring in a creepy way. But none of them could sleep.

_I wish you could talk..._, Vitaly thought as he ran a finger down the snork's protruding spine. The mutant just blinked his glowing eyes.

Vitaly found him beautiful.

* * *

On the following day the snork was visibly nervous, and he couldn't stop growling and grumbling. He wrapped strongly his arms around one of Vitaly's leg and didn't let go, not even when the scientist walked back to the lab. And when they got there, the snork literally climbed to the scientist's lap and buried his almost human face on the man's chest.

Vitaly sat as his desk and waited. It took just some minutes, until two soldiers invaded his lab; one of them appeared to be very young and looked curiously, almost smilling, to the scientist and the snork:

'Doctor, if you please...', asked the older soldier. He had a handgun with sedatives and Vitaly wondered if he was aware that those things didn't work on the snork, unless it was a very strong dose; a strong dose could harm the mutant, the chemicals could make a nasty reaction on the snork's mutated blood. Mikhail growled louder but didn't look at the soldiers, just like a child crying over his mother and accusing his elder brother of some rascality. Vitaly sighed heavily and stood up, feeling the snork tighten his grip. He hugged him strongly, trying to pass some comfort, but he feared he would only make things worst:

'Misha, don't make it more difficult, please...', he wishpered close to the snork's ear. It was a difficult task, but he managed to release from the snork and put the collar around his neck. He exchanged a look with the mutant but he couldn't sustain for much time those pleading lifeless blue eyes. He stroked that shaved head a last time and, reluctantly, gave the chain to the older soldier, 'Treat him well, please! He's a pacific guy!'

'Yes, very...', the soldier mumbled and pulled the chain. Mikhail growled and tried to stand still or to grab Vitaly's legs, but at a second try he was gradded by the neck. The snork struggled to go back to Vitaly and was kicked and yelled at.

The soldiers took him away and closed the door.

Vitaly hid his face on his hands and let out a sob; what if the snork thought he had betrayed him? What if the snork thought he had been abandoned? The young scientist took a seat, crying miserably, and he wished he had been strong enough to impose his will and make sure Mikhail would be fine.

* * *

Mikhail didn't stop struggling and he managed to bite the older soldier on the leg. He was kicked on the mouth then, and it only angered more the mutant. He wanted to go back to Vitaly!

But... why had Vitaly given him to the bad men? Had he done anything wrong again? The bath... maybe the young man didn't like to end up soaked! Thinking hard, the mutant gave up on fighting and was dragged to another lab, not far from Vitaly's.

As he entered the new territory he adopted again his motionless expression and looked everywhere, growling. It was a white room, cold, and there was a woman in a white smock smilling nervously. She had a big paper pad and next to her there was a huge box:

'Is it safe?', she asked. The older soldier nodded:

'If it tries something, it will get an electric shock from the collar.', he informed and let go the chain. Mikhail was looking around, studying his situation, 'We'll be guarding the door, you have nothing to fear.'

The woman just nodded and looked at the disgusting mutant. _Gosh, and this wanders freely on my colleague's lab!_, she thought and shivered. Well, maybe this would be more difficult than what she had thought... she had been given some basic information about those things, and now, with one right in front of her, using Psychology seemed completely nonsense.

Oh well, she'd try her best.

In the meantime, Mikhail had already analyzed his situation; it was very similar to when he met Vitaly, even easier to escape! And unlike Vitaly, that woman would not have the guts the young man had to impose some discipline on the snork. The snork snarled; this would be funny...

He stared at her, squatting, his head slightly tilted, his shineless eyes following her movements, and his wild grin on his motionless face. The snork began to feel a light disturbance and he slowly crawled on all his four towards her, growling. Then he stopped and squatted again.

She cleared her throat, trying to seem confident:

'Ok... I mean, do you even understand what I say?'

A growl. She just shrugged and picked up colourful cubes from the huge box. She carefuly spread them in front of the snork and expected him to do something, since she didn't know if the mutant would understand, and obey, an order.

Mikhail tilted his head; if Vitaly was there, he would tell him to do something interesting, challenging! But... what was the point of having those things all over the floor? He growled and moved towards the woman again:

'Oh my God!', she hissed and gave several steps back. However, Mikhail grabbed one of her legs and pulled, making her fall over her side. He quickly trotted to her neck and bit her.

Valeria let out a terrified scream and the two soldiers rushed into the lab, guns ready to fire. But as they positioned them, the snork buried more and more his perfect teeth on her neck:

'Do-don't do that, it will kill me!', she cried, 'Stop doing it, drop those things!'

Mikhail let out some gutural sound that could be taken as a laugh.

* * *

On his lab, Vitaly heard a woman screaming. His heart skipped a beat and, without thinking, he ran out of his lab, wiping the tears to the back of his hand. This could be his chance to fix things!

There was a door open and there voices and growls coming from the inside. It had to be there. He stepped into the Psychology lab and found the two soldiers trying to reach the snork, who was dragging his victim by the neck, minimally worried with the damage he was causing:

'Mikhail, stop!', Vitaly ordered. And there was silence.

The snork let go Valeria's neck and, ignoring everything and everyone, ran to the young scientist. Vitaly had came back! He hadn't abandoned him! The young scientist kneeled and opened his arms to receive his snork:

'Little bandit, I turn my back for a moment and here you are, causing the chaos!', he murmured and wrapped his arms around the mutant.


	7. Restart

**Author's note: **I'd like to thank for the lovely review. :)

* * *

With the snork on his arms, Vitaly felt powerful; those two soldiers would witness he had complete controll over the mutant and they'd tell it to their stupid general, and that silly psychologist would be sent back home, she was useless there. The young scientist cupped the snork's face and wiped some blood drops from the corners of his lipless mouth, allowing himself to smile.

Then the sound of a gun being unlocked broke the spell and Mikhail began to growl again. Vitaly frowned and looked at the older soldier, who was appointing a small handgun at the snork. The younger soldier had helped the woman to sit down and was observing:

'Get away, Doctor.', the soldier with the handgun said. But Vitaly wrapped his arms around the snork and offered his back to the soldier:

'No! He has no fault you don't know how to deal with him!'

'Excuse me?',Valeria asked in a pitched voice, her hands pressed against her bleeding neck. Vitaly looked at her:

'You don't know how to deal with him, no one in this base knows but me!'

'What the hell is going on here?', the general asked as he stepped into the lab, 'What is all this noise an-...', he widened his eyes before the scene and, if a stare killed, Vitaly and the snork would have died in that precise moment, 'Doctor Fedor, explain.'

Vitaly stood up with the growling snork on his embrace and he looked defiantly at the general:

'With all the respect, Doctor Ivanona has no clue of how to deal with Mikhail.'

'Enlighten us, so!', she yelled and managed to stand up. The young soldier tried to help her but she smacked his hands away, 'How do you deal with that mutant? Show us!'

Vitaly looked around. An extremely angry general, a soldier apointing his handgun at them, an amount of curious soldiers at the door and a wounded pissed off psychologist. The young scientist took a deep breath; it was a stressful situation, he could feel the snork was very nervous... but he trusted him. Slowly, he made his way to the cubes:

'Misha, let's show them how inteligent you are, yes?', he whispered, 'Just make this and everything will be okay, I promise.'

He put the snork on the floor, from an angle visible for everybody. The snork looked around, growling, but he went silent as Vitaly kneeled next to him and showed the yellow face of a cube:

'I just want to see the yellow part, can you make it?', he asked. The snork looked at his audience, then to the cubes, then to the young scientist. He grumbled something and turned all the yellow faces up, 'Good boy.', Vitaly smiled and stirred Mikhail's shaved head. He looked at the silent mini-crowd, 'This is how I deal with him.', he stood up and, since everyone was paying attention, he started to talk more and more excitedly, 'I don't know if he's a unique case, but if he's not, so snorks are still extremely simillar to us! Mikhail understands what I say, and even if he doesn't recognize the words he understands gestures, voice tones and facial expressions! He was completely expressionless but now he moves his eyebrows and wides his eyes, and he also uses body language that's very similar to a dog or a cat! He recognizes me, he recognizes his name, he comunicates with me, he has various types of growls and grumbles and...', he paused to catch his breath and noticed he was smilling, '... I trust him and he trusts me, he feels people! He can feel and react to anyone of you! And I didn't use violence with him, I...'

'That thing attacked me!', Valeria yelled, not convinced with Vitaly's passionate speech, 'And I didn't harm it!'

'He doesn't know you and he didn't like the way he was brought to you!', the young man defended his snork, whose growls were very loud again, 'If someone had listened to me, this wouldn't have happened!'

'So tell me, Doctor, ' the general suddenly said in a venomous tone, 'what should have been done?'

'There is still a lot of things to find out about Mikhail.', Vitaly started, 'I've been leading some psychology tests too, and some of those tests reveal subjects of scientific interest. What should be done is a team work between Doctor Ivanova and me, for the good of everybody.' he looked at the furious woman, 'I demand to be present when you work with Mikhail.'

'And if I don't agree with this...?', the general asked with a smile. Vitaly clenched his jaw and didn't say a word, but all the results he had obtained until that moment would disappear... He looked at the growling Mikhail, half-hidden behind him; _I'd prefer to give you a painless death than leaving you suffering._

The soldiers murmured with each others, some convinced Vitaly was right, others thinking they should shoot him right there for such insolence. The general had crossed his arms and looked from the two scientists to the snork; he hadn't liked the tone Vitaly used and he just hated that snork, it was giving too much trouble... but the worse part was that the young scientist was right. He had just shown everybody that the snork only obeyed him. And that research was of extreme importance...

The general sighed:

'Very well... Doctor Fedor, you organize and lead this research, from now on. But...', and for some reason Vitaly felt he would hate that 'but', '... every month, I want to see something. If you fail, just for a single day...', the general appointed the snork and left.

It didn't take long until the mini-crowd was gone, and there were onyl left Vitaly, Mikhail, Valeria and the young soldier, who trotted to the door, closed it and then smiled nervously:

'Can I... can I touch him?', he asked. Mikhail frowned and Vitaly bit his lower lip:

'Be nice, yes Misha?', he whispered and nodded. Excitedly, the young soldier approached the snork, his hand stretched., 'Careful, don't stress him.', the mutant growled but let the soldier approach and smelled his hand. Hmm... with an annoyed snarl, the snork allowed the young soldier to pet his head:

'Was he actually named Mikhail?', the young soldier asked. He was a small young man, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, another new arrived to the Zone:

'Yes, it's on his warrant disk.', Vitaly smiled before the enthusiastic soldier, but his smile vanished again as he looked at his colleague. He seized the snork, holding him like a cat, and walked towards her; of course he'd not talk about Mikhail's 'healing powers', that was their secret, 'That looks like a nasty wound...'

'Really?', the young woman replayed the most ironically she could:

'I think you should rest for a week or so, then you can join me in my lab.'

Valeria raised an eyebrow and looked from the growling snork to the young man before her. She nodded and went to the infirmary. The young soldier trotter after her and smiled quickly to the snork:

'See you, Misha!', he said before disappearing into the corridor. The mutant went silent and rested his head against Vitaly's shoulder, who smiled:

'Let's go back to our lab, shall we?', the young scientist suggested, _So that I can see what have they done to you._

* * *

There were just a few bruises on the snork's ribcage and jaw, nothing too serious. Vitaly managed to bring him a dish full of raw meat and watched him devour the tidbit, and only in that moment he realized what he had said to the general; geez, he had been completely out of mind! That had been too risky, he could have been shot! Worst, Mikhail could have been shot...

The young scientist rubbed his face; well, it was done now, and he didn't regret it. He had finally assured Mikhail's safety and that was the most important part. His thoughts were interrupted as the snork jumped to his lap and happily nibbled his neck. Vitaly smiled and cupped the snork's face to make him look at his brown eyes:

'Now tell me Misha, you were cruel with Doctor Ivanova... did you plan it?', he asked. The snork just blinked his eyes, those stunning dead blue eyes, 'Did you think that, if you caught her by the neck, the bad men couldn't do anything against you?', Vitaly repeated slower and tried to mimic his question. The mutant nodded, slowly, and something strange shone in that pair of lifeless blue eyes. The young scientist wrote down on his notebook; _Plans actions, has a sense of cause and consequence, but premeditated actions may result in cruelty_._  
_

Vitaly looked at his wrist and then to the snork; _So human..._

The young scientist didn't do anything the rest of the day; he just wanted to sit on his chair and watch the snork playing around the lab, jumping and crawling and defying Vitaly to join the party. But the mutant finally calmed down and spent the whole day on the scientist's lap.

That night Vitaly took him to his room again, much for the snork's joy. For a long time, the young scientist wasn't able to sleep because Mikhail was so excited that he didn't stop running around the room and jumping from the floor to the bed and from the bed to the floor. It was around midnight when the snork finally got tired and made his way under the blankets on Vitaly's bed. The young scientist let out a tired sigh as he felt the snork cuddling on him:

'We need to take off those clothes and boots...', he said and was given a snarl as an answer. The young scientist turned on the bedside lamp and undressed the mutant, too tired to offer any resistance. The light was turned off again and Vitaly covered them with the blankets. Some seconds later the snork began to purr, glued to the young man, a shadow of a smile on his grinning face.


	8. Work I

**Author's note: **I'd like to thank for the review. :)

* * *

Not too long after they had fallen asleep, something caught the snork's attention and the mutant crouched on the bed, growling lowly. Vitaly let out a sad sigh and buried his face on the pillow:

'Mikhail, if you don't behave properly you'll sleep on the lab again...', he grumbled. But the snork ignored him and soon the scientist noticed there was something wrong. He raised his head to look at the tense mutant and frowned, 'Misha?' Vitaly stretched out his hand and touched the snork's back.

But the snork just growled and, silently, crawled to the floor and stood next to the bed. Vitaly dragged himself to the edge of the bed and patted the snork's head:

'Misha? Misha, what's wrong?', the young man asked again. Could someone be at the door? Someone who wanted to harm them? The snork looked at the scientist, his dead blue eyes glowing in the dark, and the mutant pushed Vitaly and tried to hide him under a blanket. Indeed, something was disturbing the snork.

Vitaly stood up and the unpleased mutant wrapped his fingers around Vitaly's leg with an iron grip; seemed the scientist wasn't allowed to take the risk. Vitaly thought it touching, Mikhail was protecting him! But it was also worrying; what could be happening to leave the snork like that? For some minutes, the mutant was tense and growled, and Vitaly decided to stand behind him.

Until finally the snork calmed down a little and jumped again to the bed. The young scientist laid down beside him and covered them with the blankets:

'Tomorrow we'll see what happened, yes?', he said and scratched the back of the snork's head. But the mutant, facing the door, didn't sleep.

* * *

On the following day Vitaly found the young soldier going to the canteen and ran a little to catch him:

'Hi there!', he saluted. The young soldier looked at him and smilled, but Vitaly noticed he was very tired:

'Doctor! How's Mikhail?', the soldier asked. They walked side by side on the nearly desert corridor and Vitaly shoved his hands inside the pockets of his smock:

'He's okay, I'm getting him breakfast. But last night he was very tense, did something happen here?', and the soldier stopped to look around. He seemed suddenly nervous and bit his lower lip:

'Hm... do you need help with Mikhail?', Vitaly raised an eyebrow and the soldier's voice was reduced to a whisper, 'I'll tell you, but not here.'

The young scientist nodded and they made their way to the kitchen, where Vitaly stole some toasts, a chocolate bar and a glass of milk with a straw, while the soldier took some food from the canteen and joined him again on the corridor:

'By the way, I don't know your name!', Vitaly exclaimed when they were going to the lab. The young soldier smiled and stretched his hand:

'Alexei Alexandrov, but everybody calls me Alex.', they shook hands and stopped at the door of the lab. Vitaly placed the hand on the door knob:

'You don't approach him, he approaches you.', the young scientist explained and smiled, 'I'm sure he will react differently to you, so I can't tell you much.'

And with this they got in and heard Mikhail's low growls; the mutant was squatting in the middle of the lab, wondering why did Vitaly bring a visit for breakfast. And a soldier; gosh, the snork had had enough with them! Vitaly put the trays with food over his desk and smiled:

'Come on Misha, I know you're hungry.', he called. Alexei was standing next to the door, looking curiously at the snork who, slowly and still growling, took a seat and started to eat. The young soldier goggled his eyes, surprised:

'You taught him that, Doctor?', he asked. Vitaly nodded, feeling extremely proud of the snork. Alexei just watched, amazed, 'If we brought you more snorks, could you make the same? He sits better on that chair than my little brother!'

'I don't know...', the young scientist took a bite of his toast and chewed silently as he watched Mikhail devour his breakfast. With a loud 'buuuuuurp', the snork jumped to the floor and hid under the desk, lying over the scientist's feet. Vitaly looked at him and a small smile grew on his lips, 'Maybe he's unique. I like to think that. In fact, I'm almost sure of it.', he petted the snork, 'What happened last night?'

'Some bandits attacked us. It was a fast but pretty tough fight, I thought I'd die...', Alexei told with a sigh, 'We made some prisioners, seems they wanted something from us, but I don't know what.'

Vitaly just nodded and had a bad feeling about that.

* * *

Even though Mikhail didn't give a damn about the young soldier, Alexei was now a very dedicated fan. Vitaly allowed the soldier to stay for a while and try to socialize with the snork, but all the mutant did was ignoring the other human and play with paper balls. But when he found himself alone with Vitaly again, he just wrapped his arms around the man's legs and had fun being dragged around the lab:

'Yes Misha, you are a very funny boy...', Vitaly said after lunch and seized him by the armpits. He sat the snork on the stretcher, 'But now I need to work, ok?', a grunt as an answer; Mikhail wanted to play or make those interesting and challenging things, he didn't want to stay in that stretcher just looking at Vitaly! He watched as the young scientist turned his attention to the sample of the snork's saliva and the mutant tilted his head; what was so interesting about some drops of drool? The snork grumbled something and laid down, still looking at the scientist.

Vitaly found out that the mutated saliva was extremely rich in healing materials. How wonderful would be if that miraculous substance was used to everybody's profit! Mothers wouldn't have to worry about their playful children anymore, Goverments wouldn't have to worry about their soldiers anymore, owners wouldn't have to worry about their pets anymore... all thanks to that saliva that healed wounds in a matter of hours.

And that miracle was all thanks to Mikhail. The young scientist looked over his shoulder and found the bored snork, who frowned hopefully. Vitaly just smiled and gestured the snork to join him, and the mutant jumped to the floor and trotted towards him. Curious, Mikhail placed both hands on the workbench and hauled himself up, using his arms to sustain his skinny body in a upright position. The young scientist wrappen an arm around the snork's shoulders and showed him the little petri dish with the saliva sample:

'With this, no one will ever dare to annoy you!', he exclaimed, 'They will respect you!', Vitaly put the petri dish aside and picked up the snork, holding him like a cat, 'Can you imagine how many lifes you can save? Misha, you're like some kind of God, you can take or give life!'

Mikhail grumbled happily; Vitaly was excited and joyous, that was good! And even though the snork didn't get it all, he understood it had something to do with him. And if it had something to do with him, so he had pleased Vitaly. And pleasing Vitaly always felt good. The snork nibbled the scientist's neck and Vitaly giggled. He took another look to the petri dish... and then he frowned. Because Humanity is never grateful.

If he succeded in using Mikhail's saliva to make such a powerful healer, then the World's economy would turn its necrophagous attention to the Zone, to the snorks. And all those mutants, who jumped and ran happy and free in the Zone would be hunted down and taken to big industries and pharmaceutic buldings, and they would be submited to horrible experiences and would be turned into slaves. And poor innocent human victims would be exposed to the dangerous radiation and, against their own will, would suffer a painful transformation and become a snork, so that the saliva production would keep going on. Because that's how mankind thanks Nature for what She gives them.

And Vitaly didn't want Mikhail to become a prisioner of his own capacities. Neither Mikhail's friends.

The young scientist sat on his chair, feeling like he had been given a horrible punch in the stomach. He realized he was sweating and that he still had the snork on his lap. The mutant had his blond eyebrows slightly frowned, eyes lightly widened, jaw clenched; Mikhail was extremely worried with the sudden change on the scientist's mood. Vitaly sighed sadly:

'You know Misha... men are cruel. Men are bad. And because of the bad men, the few good men must suffer.', the snork frowned more and tilted his head, 'We share a very important secret, and we can't tell no one about this, ok?'

The snork glanced behind, to the small petri dish with his saliva sample. Then he looked at Vitaly's wrist and nodded. The young scientist offered him a small smile and stroked his head:

'Well, we need to keep working... I know you hate this part.', he seized the snork and sat him on the stretcher again. The mutant let out a defeated grumble as Vitaly showed him a syringe, 'I don't want to test things directly on you, I don't want to harm you.', so the scientist took 3 blood samples. He was very surpised the snork had given up on resisting the syringe and he promised to compensate him with a special dinner. Vitaly then kept the blood in a test tube but let 3 drops on 3 petri dishes. In the first one he mixed a drop of antibiotic, in the second he mixed a drop of sedative and in the third he mixed serum. He planned to conserve the samples and then analyze the results, but as he looked to the petri dishes again, Vitaly noticed the blood on which he had mixed antibiotic and serum had evaporated. He covered his mouth with the hands, horrified, and hurried to wrote down what he had just seen. He then examined the blood sample with sedative but everything was normal.

* * *

Few days later Valeria decided it was time to start working, even though her neck was still bandaged. She showed up in Vitaly's lab and thought disgusting the sight of her collegue feeding the snork from his hand. They went to her lab, Mikhail trotted next to Vitaly with the collar around his neck, growling lowly. Valeria closed the door behind them and appointed a table with two chairs:

'I bet you can make it sit.', she said. Vitaly nodded and removed the collar from Mikhail's neck, much for the woman's despair. She stepped back and watched as the snork followed the young man and sat on the chair. Then slowly, she sat on the other chair, 'So, I presume you understand everything it does, right?'

'Most things, yes. When not, I ask him to explain me.', Vitaly replayed, standing behind Mikhail's chair. The snork looked from the young man to the young woman, still growling. Valeria had a small pile of papers next to her and she showed the snork a paper with an inkblot, that classical Rorschach test. She looked at Vitaly, both eyebrows raised, and the young man offered her a smile, 'You can talk to him.'

'No, I prefer you do it...'

'Misha, what do you see here?', and the young scientist predicted a looong, looooong day. Misha looked at the inkblot and frowned; what the heck was that? That sucked, he wanted something decent, he wanted those mind-challenging tests Vitaly used to make him! The snork shook his head, 'Come on Misha, I know you see something...' The mutant grumbled and tilted his head, thinking really hard; he had to see something, he couldn't disappoint Vitaly. Mikhail half-closed his dead blue eyes and scratched his head. Valeria rolled her eyes; there she was, wasting her time with a dumb mutant. Then the snork looked at her colleague and the young man smiled, 'I think he saw something!'

'Good. What is it?'

'Do you have a book with animals or plants or something like that?'

Complete nonsense! Valeria stood up and walked towards a big box placed next to her desk. She looked for something and came back with children's books about animals, farms, city life... It took a while, until finally Mikhail appointed a raven. Vitaly smiled and stroked his head:

'See how intelligent he is? He saw a raven in there, I'd never see a raven in such a mess.', but Valeria just rolled her eyes and noted the answer.

But 19 inkbloted papers later, Valeria was completely astonished with the snork. He had done the whole test. And had taken less time than a human being. Vitaly was visibly proud of his snork and kneeled next to him to give Mikhail a hug:

'I wasn't really expecting that!', the young woman confessed and she brought some crayons, 'I'll have the results ready by tomorrow morning.'

Vitaly just nodded. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous; he was sure he already knew the snork, that he could antecipate his thoughts and moves. It would be sad if the test revealed some hidden personality that the scientist didn't know.

A little bit fearless, Valeria gave the snork a paper and the crayons. Mikhail just blinked his eyes, wondering if those things were cereal bars. Vitaly always gave him a cereal bar, sometime after breakfast. The snork watched as the young scientist picked up a crayon and did a yellow trace on the white paper. Ooohhh! Interesting!

And while the two humans chatted for some hours, Mikhail had fun 'drawing' on the papers. Maybe that human n.2 wasn't that bad, still Vitaly was much better. Vitaly and Valeria were sitting on her desk and the young man looked at the snork, smilling:

'He's having fun. What are the drawings for?'

'I can find out things about its personality, or traits of sociopathy or psycopathy.', Valeria took a look at the mutant, then she looked to the scientist again, 'What kind of work do you do with it?'

'I was supposed to make experiments with him, but all I did until the moment was watching a CT scan image and taking some blood and saliva samples. His DNA is extremely similar to ours. And he can't be given antibiotics or serum. And he doesn't detect certain blue tonalities.'

'That's all you know?'

'From the scientific research, yes...', Vitaly felt a little embarassed, 'But psycologicaly, I know a lot of stuff. I leaded some tests.'

'I'd like to see the results.'

'I'll show them tomorrow, then.'

The woman just nodded. She flinched as she saw Mikhail trotting on his four to Vitaly and wrap his skinny arms around the young man's legs. He smiled and picked him up:

'I guess he's tired and wants to have dinner.', Vitaly said. Valeria just nodded:

'It was... surpisingly productive, really. I wasn't expecting it.', and the psycologist slipped her hand into a pocket of her smock, 'Can I give it a chocolate?'

Vitaly looked at the snork; he had gained his trust through food, too... he felt a sudden fear; what if Mikhail started to prefer Valeria? No, that was impossible, silly Vitaly... right? He smiled nervously and nodded:

'He deserves.'

Carefuly, Valeria stretched out the chocolate. Mikhail smelled it and buried his face on the scientist's chest; you shall never accept sweets from the enemy, never! And Vitaly couldn't help but feel incredibly happy.

* * *

'You know Misha, I've never been a popular guy...', Vitaly told later that night. The snork had just discovered how funny it was to lay over someone's belly and go up and down while the other is breathing, 'I've never had many friends. I was a very shy kid, and I became a very shy teen. And an even more shy adult. I've never had someone to talk to, my parents were always very busy with the farm and I don't have any siblings.', he laughed when the snork slipped off his stomach, 'And I know you're not in the mood for sentimental stuff and such... but you're my only friend. Can you understand, Misha? You're not just a snokie-snork I have to study, you are my dearest friend. Dearest and only.'

The mutant rested his chin over Vitaly's chest and began to purr, Mikhail's way to tell Vitaly he was his dear friend too. Not that the snork understood the words, but he understood their emotional meaning.

It was around lunch time when all the soldiers ran to the surface. And Mikhail's growlings joined the sound of the heavy boots and Vitaly, still studying the blood sample with sedative, understood something was going on again.

And as he made his way to the door to see if he could find what was happening, the snork jumped to him, the scientist lost his ballance and fell on the floor and the snork sat over him; Vitaly was not allowed to move.

* * *

**Weee, review?**


	9. Work II

**Author's note: **so, I'd like to thank for all the follows and reviews. :)

* * *

It had been another attack, Alexei told some hours later, but that time performed by the Freedom guys. And with the same objective: they were looking for something.

Vitaly supposed it should be a gun or something like that, men usually like to fight for such silly things. Anyway, he had other things to do, like studying Mikhail.

There was nothing new in the results from Valeria tests, nothing Vitaly didn't know already. He was very proud of that and indescribably happy. The young scientist then showed his own tests to the psychologist and watched as Valeria raised her eyebrows, surprised, as she read the results:

'Indeed, a clever and intelligent guy!', she admitted. Pity the snork was so creepy, or she would really like him, 'I wonder why these soldiers want him...'

'I've already told you, to find smiliraties between snorks and humans.'

'I know that... but then... what for?', she frowned and handed him the notebook again. They were on his lab and Mikhail was growling lowly, just to keep his badass style. The snork was squatting on the floor between the two scientists, wondering why did Valeria, such a tall human being, used those weird things on her feet that made her taller.

Vitaly frowned too and scratched his head:

'Maybe... curiosity?'

'You are too naive...', the young woman smiled, 'When men want to know how does something work, it's because they want to use that thing for their own purposes...'

Vitaly looked at Mikhail; could they expect that the little snork would become a super-soldier or something like that? No, that was just too silly... maybe they just wanted guides in the Zone, so that they didn't need those annoying stalkers. However, he had a sudden bad feeling about all of that and he decided to stop talking about it. Vitaly looked again to the young woman:

'Well, I'm going to work a little with him. Do you want to help?', he asked. She shrugged; why not? So the two of them pushed the stretcher and the desk aside while Mikhail, that meanwhile had moved to the top of the CT scan machine, wondered why they were doing that.

Someone knocked at the door and two soldiers got it, carrying a treadmill with them. They placed it on the new unoccupied space and left. Valeria stepped back as the snork jumped to the floor and circled that new thing, curiously:

'See this thing, Misha?', the young scientist asked and tapped the treadmill, 'You just have to run on this, yes? If you get tired, jump to the floor.'

Too easy! The mutant climbed to the treadmill and watched as Vitaly pressed some buttons. And oooh, the floor began to move! Mikhail started to trot, intrigued with such thing, but then the snork began to wonder what was the fun of walking, getting tired and not move from the same place:

'Why are you exercising him?', Valeria asked. Vitaly put some stuff over his desk and picked up his notebook, where he began to describe the new experiment:

'I want to check his resistence and then compare it with the best soldiers.', Vitaly explained, 'And I want to measure his blood pressure and heartbeats, and I want to know if and how he perspires.'

The young woman just nodded and watched the snork trot on the treadmill. Some minutes later, Vitaly increased the speed and Mikhail changed to something that reminded of a horse cantering. Then Valeria smiled:

'I bet it will need water.', she suggested. Vitaly grimaced:

'Damn, I forgot that... can you bring me a bowl and some bottles?', he asked. The young woman nodded and left.

When Valeria came back she brought Alexei with her; not that she invited him, but the young soldier glued to her when she innocently told him Vitaly was working on Mikhail. At the time they entered the lab again Mikhail was galloping at full speed and Vitaly had a huge smile:

'We've been here for... 45 minutes!', he exclaimed when he noticed Valeria and Alexei. He was writing furiously on his notebook, 'Seems he has strong lungs!'

'Is it on the maximum speed?', the soldier asked, admiring the snork running and running, still wondering why he was still on the same place. That was boring... Vitaly shook his head:

'But it will be, within a few seconds...'

And the scientist increased the machine's speed. Mikhail frowned and enlarged his step; now that was getting boring and tiring... The snork looked at Vitaly, the young man seemed really proud, he could not disappoint him! The mutant let out a sigh and focused on running. He would not stop, he would not stop even though he couldn't handle it anymore. But 5 minutes later Vitaly began to decrease the speed, until it finally stoped and the mutant collapsed, panting heavily, eyes wide open. Alexei clapped his hands in exciment:

'This guy is my hero, I could never make that!'

'It needs water!', Valeria exclaimed. Alexei emptied one of the bottles into the bowl and offered it to the snork, who sipped the water greedily. The young soldier smiled and, since the snork was too tired to slap his hand away, he petted his head:

'My brother makes this noise too, when he's having soup. My mom hates it...', he told, 'I taught him that!', Valeria rolled her eyes and Vitaly laughed.

The young scientist kneeled next to the snork and checked his heartbeat and blood pressure just to conclude a human being could never achieve such results. He then touched the snork on his forehead, hands and under the black tank top, but Mikhail was cold as ice and hadn't a single sweat drop. His tongue wasn't hanging out of his mouth either, which leaded the scientist to suppose snorks didn't perspire like dogs or cats. Nor like humans:

'Valeria, give me a syringe please.', Vitaly asked. Mikhail just sighed, exhausted, and closed his eyes when the young man took a blood sample, 'Alexei, keep an eye on him while I check this.'

Visibly excited, the young soldier kneeled next to Mikhail and rubbed the snork's shoulder:

'Champion!'

'Indeed, remarkable.', Valeria agreeded. But she would let all the petting for those two lame guys. She turned her attention to the young scientist, his work seemed much more interesting than poking a snork in the stomach. She approached him and crossed her arms:

'Anything?'

'Normal. No epinephrine, no difference on the oxygen levels...', Vitaly mumbled. He frowned, 'It's... normal, like he did nothing!'

'I heard snorks are always moving, maybe all this exercise is already part of the program.', Alexei suggested. Valeria nodded:

'Maybe.'

'Yes, maybe...', Vitaly agreeded, He wrote down the conclusion.

* * *

Mikhail was so sluggish and tired he even allowed Vitaly to bath him. The snork didn't open his eyes nor growled, he just let out some annoyed but weak sighs. So the young scientist took the chance to shave the sides of the mutant's head, mostly just for fun. The snork didn't really care about that noisy machine moving on his head, even though it was annoying. Mikhail took a deep sigh; in a normal situation he'd slap that thing away, but in that moment he just laid on the floor over a towel, with Vitaly kneeled next to him:

'Pretty!', the young scientist exclaimed as he admired his work, 'Now you're a stylish snork, Misha.'

Mikhail just grumbled something; more than half of his hair was gone, but who cares... He let out a little happy growl when Vitaly picked him up and carried him to the bed. When the young scientist put down the mutant, Mikhail curled up in a ball and buried his face on the pillow. At first the snork worried Vitaly, but when he laid down next to him and listened to the regulated heartbeats and breathing, he had no doubts the mutant was okay.

And on the following day the snork was all hyperactive again. And since he had done well the day before, Vitaly decided that would be their day off. So the young man battled really hard to put on Mikhail some work gloves and explain the snork they were not eatable:

'And I know you hate this,', Vitaly said as he put the collar around the snork's neck and held the chain, 'but today we have to use it.', he smiled before the mutant's bothered expression,'Come on Misha, I have a surprise for you!'

With a sigh, Mikhail followed Vitaly to the corridor and walked next to him, looking everywhere and frowning; they were not going to the gym, they were not going to Valeria's lab, they were not going to Vitaly's room... so... where were they going? A door was open to reveal stairs and the snork halted; he remembered when he was taken outside, to the surface, and given a cold bath by those rude soldiers.

He didn't want to go, but Vitaly picked him up and the mutant offered no resistence:

'Here, didn't you miss the sun?', the scientist asked as he stepped outside and placed the snork on the ground, 'I did!'

Mikhail looked around, the strong light hurting his sensitive lifeless eyes. He hid a little behind Vitaly and looked around; walls... barracks... soldiers... The snork looked up, his mouth slightly open, and watched the clear sky above him; it looked grey, since Mikhail couldn't detect its blueish colour, and that annoying fire ball was just too shiny. The mutant grunted something and motioned the small cabin with the stairs with his head, which leaded Vitaly to smile and shake his head:

'No Misha, today we are going to make something different.', and the scientist walked away. Having no option, Mikhail let out a sigh and trotted after the young man, growling to every soldier that crossed their way.

Vitaly made his way to the exit and a soldier ordered him to stop. His head was covered with a balaclava but that didn't stop Vitaly to notice him frown:

'Where are you going? Study subjects are not allowed to leave the base.', the soldier said. Mikhail growled louder:

'It's part of the process!', and in part was, 'I need to study his reaction to his natural environment after all this time down there!'

The soldier remained silent, just blinking his eyes. Then he turned around, to his comrades who were standing behind piled sand bags:

'Alex, take the Doctor outside.', the soldier said. Alexei nearly flew to Vitaly, nodding excitedly, and the snork rolled his eyes.

With the young soldier leading the way, Vitaly and Mikhail crossed the open gates. The young scientist looked around; he had arrived there with his eyes covered and was very curious about the Zone. Meh, seemed like something normal, grass, trees, a road, birds flying above his head and the distant barking of dogs. Nothing too exciting...

Right next to him, Mikhail goggled his dead blue eyes and stopped in the middle of the road, a strange, heavy and distressful feeling wrapping its cold fingers around his heart and stomach; why was Vitaly taking him outside? He frowned;

_It was getting dark but that didn't stop him from jumping around, nearly bumping into other snorks; some stupid bloodsuckers were not far from their place and the whole group was too excited to find a safe place to sleep. And they were all so busy jumping in circles that they didn't notice the small group of stalkers hiding behind the trees. _

_Mikhail only noticed them when a tranquilizer dart met his neck. And everything became foggy, the confusion intensified, there were shots and dead snorks falling next to him, others ran away. Even though he was awaken, he was too dizzy to fight back and he was easily wrapped in a fishing net and carelessly thrown into a bag._

Was... was Vitaly going to send him away?


End file.
